Buying a house without a mortgage

Frugaldom

I know the rent money is 'dead' money, that's why it's so annoying to have to be stuck as a tenant on 6 month leases. I'm in my 8th address since 2001 because nobody is prepared to do longterm lets, so you can see the problems. This year, I did the cyberdosh 'frugal living' challenge throughout (it finishes on the 31st December) and have managed to live on £4,000 for a year (excluding rent & council tax but I houseshare) so I am managing to save to the point of obsession. For 2008, the challenge to keep within the 4k budget and earn an extra 3k from home means that it's possible to have a decent deposit saved soon but no chance of a mortgage because of so many housemoves and interupted business trading. I NEED to buy outright, I can't think of any other way - short of applying for council housing, which I don't consider as an option for anyone running a business from home. It's a major challenge, but one that I will stick with until I get what I want (even if it drives me loopy LOL). I am mortgage free without a house, all that has to change is the loss of those last 3 words. If they made television programmes about this sort of challenge, then it would certainly be my kind of viewing material!

setmefree2

Hi and Good Luck - Anything is possible if you believe it and want it enough. I admire your determination. All the best and keep us posted.....:money::T:T

HugoSP

If you could live anywhere in the country there are good regional opportunities out there.

I know of someone who moved to Nottingham from Leicester in the 80s, as prices in Leicester had shot up but Nottingham was lagging.

Result, he almost doubled his money on each house.

On the downside you cannot guarantee that rents will stay low.

One anicdote that I remember after having bought my first house aged 19 in Leicester was a friend I worked with telling me how much he spent on cigarettes.

His smoking habit cost him more than my mortgage payments, including the with profits endowmant policy:eek:

The most valuable gift my parents ever gave me was to do everything they could to prevent me from smoking. When I had this conversation I became a lot wiser and much more grateful to them. It couldn't have been easy for my dad to refrain from smoking in front of me for all those early years.

ailuro2

Is there any way you could get a part ownership home?

Pay rent on the bit you don't own, mortgage on the bit you do.

There are a few of these in Dundee where I live- it does seem to make sense rather than renting the full amount and never seeing the money again.

Frugaldom

I'm counting a mortgage as completely out of the question. I have heard that you can negotiate a rent to buy scheme with a private landlord but I guess you would have to be renting a house that you are prepared to buy in the first place. I've also considered joint-ownership but circumstances can change at the drop of a hat, so I'm going to be hard-headed and stubborn, take the "I can do it by myself" route LOL As for debt - been there, done that, was too frugal afterwards to buy the tee shirt

sdooley

You need to save £1000 per month to be in with a chance.

ailuro2

But some house prices round here have gone up by that in the past few years.....this in a city that is usually a steady housing market that ignores the uk wide trends.

your best hope then is to hope the market falls around the same time as you have the money available to buy your house.

Frugaldom

sdooley wrote: »

You need to save £1000 per month to be in with a chance.

Save £1000 a month??? I don't even EARN £1,000 a month :laugh:

Toto

EdInvestor wrote: »

The general theory underpinning home ownership is that you trade in the rental payment for the mortgage.

Otherwise you are paying the landlord's mortgage for him.

The rental payment is deemed "dead money".

That's true, but in my case the interest on a mortgage big enough to buy this house is 25% more than my rent, so in fact my landlord is saving me money.

HugoSP

Another idea may be to secure a piece of land with planning consent or one with potential, but you need to know what you're doing.

Or, buy a property with potential, especially when prices have settled.

Planning guidelines and policies can be a nightmare.

We bought a house with a mortgage a few years ago, managed to pay that off as we came into some money. Now we have planning permission to convert this large house into 2 smaller 3 bed houses.